The present invention relates to a method of checking at least one operating parameter of an energizer supplying high-voltage shock pulses to an electric fence, and also to a device for implementing said method.
In the present text, xe2x80x9coperating parameter of the energizerxe2x80x9d means a parameter such as:
the state of charge of a stand-alone power source (primary-cell battery or secondary-cell battery) for supplying direct current to the energizer of the electric fence energizer,
the maximum voltage, maximum energy, or peak current of the shock pulses at the outlet of the energizer,
the degree of insulation of the electric fence from the soil, as observed by the energizer at the starting point of the electric fence energizer, or
the state of an internal memory in the energizer containing one or more values; or indeed
any other known parameter of the energizer that could be of interest to a user.
Electric fence energizers are usually supplied with electric energy by various energy-sources such as primary-cell (non-rechargeable) or secondary-cell (rechargeable) batteries, or the mains. Certain energizers are designed to be able to be fed with electric energy by any of the three above-mentioned energy-sources, at the user""s choice.
Where the operating parameter to be checked is the degree of charge of the stand-alone electric-energy source (primary- or secondary-cell battery) for the energizer, the present invention naturally applies only to electric fences whose energizer is fed by such a stand-alone power source. However, where the operating parameter to be checked is one of the other above-mentioned operating parameters of the energizer, the present invention is applicable whatever the energy-source feeding the energizer of the fence.
Portable energizers supplied with electricity by a stand-alone source (primary- or secondary-cell battery) are usually installed in the open field. These energizers generally have a device for checking and giving a visual indication of the state of charge of the primary- or secondary-cell battery feeding them with electric power. French patent FR 2 786 874 describes such a checking and display device. When a push-button is depressed, an indicator with light-emitting diodes (LEDs) displays the state of charge of the primary- or secondary-cell battery, by way of the colour and/or continuous or blinking nature of the light emitted by the indicator. For the user, the disadvantage of such a device lies in the need to go to the place where the energizer is located, which can be at some distance from a road or access way.
Also known in the art is an electronic apparatus for contact-free checking of electric fences, which makes possible to detect, at a distance from the fence, the presence of shock pulses in an electric fence wire (see Swiss patent CH 672 960). Apart from indicating the presence or absence of shock pulses, this checking apparatus provides no other indication to the user, such as, for example, the state of the primary- or secondary-cell battery, or any other parameter characterising the operation of the energizer.
Patent application US 2001/0 002 793 A1 describes a detecting-device which is based on the same principle as the checking apparatus in Swiss patent CH 672 960, but which improves on the latter by making it possible not only to detect at a distance the presence or absence of shock pulses at a given point along an electric fence, but also to provide a quantitative indication of the peak current, voltage, or energy of said pulses at said point on the fence, by giving an audio signal whose frequency is a function of an electric magnitude of said pulses. This known device does not make it possible to provide any indication about any operating parameter of the energizer itself.
New Zealand patent NZ 258 240 describes a method and a control device making it possible to send coded signals along an electric fence line that are distinct from the shock pulses produced by the energizer of the electric fence, so as to control the operating state of said energizer, i.e. switch it on or off.
International application WO 00/22750 describes a process and a system making it possible to transmit control signals, or information, along an electric fence line. The control signals or information, constituted by one or more blocks of data, are transmitted along the fence line in the form of a carrier frequency which is phase-modulated by said control signals or information. The system comprises, on the one hand, one or more transmitters comprising a hand-held, portable remote-control unit, or other device, for connection to the fence-line, to produce and send said control signals or said information, and, on the other hand, one or more receivers for connection to the fence-line, to receive the control signals or information transmitted along the fence-line, and to process said control signals or said information, and/or to display said information. The hand-held portable remote control can itself include such a receiver. Such a system makes it possible to inform a user, at a distance from the energizer of the electric fence, about one or more operating parameters of said fence. However, it is relatively complicated and expensive in terms of equipment, in that the transmitter (or each transmitter) requires means of producing a carrier frequency distinct from the shock pulses, and means for phase-modulating said carrier frequency with the control signals or information; and the receiver (or each receiver) requires means for demodulating the carrier frequency received and recovering the control signals or information.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,420,885 and 5,651,025 and European patent EP 0 514 222 describe a method and a device making it possible to transmit a communication signal on an electric fence line. The communication signal is transmitted in the form of coded pulses which arc amplitude-modulated, frequency-modulated, or pulse-position-modulated and which are distinct and separate from the shock pulses produced by the energizer of the electric fence. The coded pulses are produced by a communication device which is either separate from the energizer of the electric fence or included in said energizer. In the latter case, the minimum supplementary components necessary for the communication device, in addition to the components already included in the energizer, are a second energy storage device, such as a capacitor, and a controllable switching-device such as a thyristor, which causes charging or discharging of the capacitor in the electric fence system depending on whether the thyristor is on (i.e. in a conductive state) or off. The very existence of coded communication-pulses distinct from the shock pulses can pose problems with regard to compliance with the safety standards applying to electric fence energizers. In addition, the need for supplementary components to produce the coded pulses increases the cost.
The present invention aims to economically provide the user with information on at least one operating parameter of an electric fence energizer, solely on the basis of the shock pulses that it produces, that is to say, without it being necessary to transmit a coded signal, distinct from the shock pulses produced by the electric fence energizer, or without it being necessary to transmit a carrier frequency phase-modulated by an information signal, and hence without it being necessary to add supplementary components to the electric fence energizer.
Thus, the subject-matter of the present invention is, broadly, a method for checking at least one operating parameter of an energizer supplying an electric fence with high-voltage shock pulses, characterized by the following steps:
a) the production of at least one measurement-signal having a value representing the operating parameter to be checked;
b) the controlling of the production of the shock pulses as a function of said measurement-signal in such a way that the time interval between said shock pulses is a function of the value of said measurement-signal; and,
c) in any zone along said electric fence, remotely from the energizer: the picking-up of said shock pulses; determination of the time interval between the pulses picked up; and operation of an indicator, as a function of the time interval determined, so as to provide an indication about said operating parameter.
The method according to the invention can also have one or more of the following characteristics:
In a first form of embodiment of the invention, in which the electric fence energizer is able to produce a succession of single shock pulses having a repetition time, said time interval is the repetition time of said shock pulses.
In this first form of embodiment of the invention, the method can consist in the following:
in step a),
the production of n measurement-signals, n being an integer greater than 1, whose values correspond respectively to n operating parameters to be checked; and,
in step b),
the production, cyclically, of n successive sequences of shock pulses in such a way that in each sequence the shock pulses have a repetition time whose value is a function, respectively, of the value of one of the n measurement-signals and lies in one of n different time ranges, each time range corresponding to one of the n operating parameters; and,
in step c),
the picking-up of at least one of the n successive sequences of shock pulses; evaluation of the repetition time of the shock pulses of the detected sequence; and determination of the time range in which the evaluated repetition time lies, so as to provide an indication about the corresponding operating parameter.
In a second form of embodiment of the invention, in which the electric fence energizer is capable of producing a succession of complex shock pulses, each complex shock pulse being formed by a train of at least two successive, relatively close, elementary pulses, with the pulse trains having a repetition time substantially greater than the total duration of each pulse train,
said time interval is at least one of the following: said repetition time of said pulse trains, and the time interval between two successive elementary pulses of each pulse train.
In this second form of embodiment of the invention, the method can consist in the following:
in step a),
production of n measurement signals, n being an integer greater than 1, whose values correspond respectively to n operating parameters to be checked;
in step b),
controlling the production of said complex shock pulses so that the repetition time of the pulse trains has a value that is a function of at least one of the n measurement signals, and so that the time interval between at least two successive elementary pulses of each pulse train has a value that is a function of at least one other of the n measurement signals; and,
in step c),
evaluating said repetition time of the pulse trains and said time interval between at least two successive elementary pulses of each pulse train, so as to provide indications about the corresponding operating parameters.
In the first and second forms of embodiment, in step c), pickup is effected without electric contact being made with the electric fence.
Said operating parameter or parameters is/are selected from the group comprising: the state of charge of a stand-alone de power supply to said energizer, the maximum voltage, maximum energy, and peak current of said shock pulses at the output of the energizer, the degree of insulation of the electric fence as observed by the energizer at the starting point of the electric fence, the state of an internal memory in the energizer containing one or more values, and any other known parameter of the energizer that could be of interest to a user.
The value of the time interval of said shock pulses is a monotonic function of the value of said measurement signal.
The value of the time interval of said shock pulses is a discontinuous, stepped function.
Further subject-matter of the present invention is: a device for checking at least one operating parameter of an energizer supplying an electric fence with shock pulses, wherein it comprises:
a) at least one measuring means able to produce a measurement signal having a value representing the operating parameter to be checked;
b) a control means suitable for controlling the production of shock pulses as a function of said measurement signal, in such a way that the time interval between said shock pulses is a function of the value of said measurement signal;
c) a pick-up means suitable for picking up said shock pulses in any zone along said electric fence;
d) an indicating means; and
e) evaluating means suitable for determining the time interval between the pulses picked up, and for operating said indicating means, as a function of the time interval determined, so as to provide an indication about said operating parameter.
The checking-device of the invention can also have one or more of the following characteristics:
in the case of an energizer comprising a microcontroller and in which each shock pulse is produced in response to the triggering of an electronic switch;
said control means is constituted by said microcontroller, which is programmed or programmable to send triggering pulses to said electronic switch at a rate that is a function of the value of said measurement signal.
in the case of an electric fence energizer comprising at least two electronic switches controlled by a microcontroller in such a way that the electric fence energizer is able to produce a succession of complex shock pulses, each complex shock pulse being formed by a train of at least two successive elementary pulses relatively close to one another, each pulse in the pulse train being produced in response to the triggering of a respective electronic switch, and the pulse trains having a repetition time substantially greater than the total duration of each pulse train,
said control means is constituted by said microcontroller, which is programmed or programmable to send triggering pulses to at least one of said electronic switches at a rate that is a function of the value of said measurement signal;
the pick-up means, the indicating means, and the evaluating means are installed in a portable housing that is independent of the energizer;
the pick-up means comprises an antenna;
the antenna is connected by a shaping circuit to the evaluating means;
the evaluating means comprise a second microcontroller, which is programmed or programmable and which is associated with a clock; and
the indicating means is an element of the group comprising: a light-emitting indicator with at least one light-emitting diode, a liquid crystal display, a bar graph, and an audio indicator.
Further subject-matter of the present invention is: an intermediate product, namely an electric fence energizer implementing a first part of the method of the invention, comprising:
a) a generator of high-voltage shock pulses, to be connected to an electric fence; and
b) at least one measuring means able to produce a measurement signal having a value representing an operating parameter of the energizer;
wherein it comprises, in addition, a control means connected to the measuring means and to the shock pulse generator, to control said shock pulse generator in such a way that the time interval between said shock pulses is a function of the value of said measurement signal.
Further subject-matter of the present invention is: another intermediate product, namely a checking apparatus implementing a second part of the method of the invention, comprising:
a) a pick-up means capable of picking up said shock pulses in any zone along said electric fence; and
b) an indicating means;
wherein it comprises, in addition,
c) evaluating means able to determine the time interval between the shock pulses picked up, and to operate said indicating means, as a function of the time interval determined, so as to provide an indication about said operating parameter.